Obama maintains lead over McCain in key battleground states

Published: Tuesday, October 28, 2008, 12:58 [IST]

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Washington, Oct 28 : As Election Day quickly approaches; recent polls find that Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is maintaining his lead over his Republican rival John McCain in several key swing states.

FOX News/Rasmussen Reports polling in several key battleground states -- Colorado, Florida, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia -- shows modest movement in a few states, but the overall dynamic of the race still favours Barack Obama.

In fact, a review of all FOX News/Rasmussen Reports polling conducted in October shows a race that has remained quite stable despite the frenetic pace of campaigning, massive amounts of campaign ads, and daily media coverage of the latest campaign tactic or gaffe.

In Missouri, Obama is up by a single percentage point, 48 percent to 47 percent. In Ohio, Obama leads McCain, 49 percent to 45 percent. That's an improvement for Obama compared to a week ago when McCain led by two.

In the Buckeye State, Obama's support has been between 47 percent and 49 percent in each of the past five weekly FOX News/Rasmussen Reports polls.

In Florida, Obama is also back on top this week, 51 percent to 47 percent. A week ago, the two candidates were essentially even but the current results are very similar to those from polls earlier in October.

In North Carolina, McCain attracts 49 percent of the vote while Obama earns 48 percent. This is the third time in four weeks that the candidates have been within a single point of each other. Last week, Obama was up by three.

In Colorado, Obama leads by four percentage points, 50 percent to 46 percent. Obama has been at 50 percent or 51 percent in each October FOX News/Rasmussen Reports poll of Colorado voters while McCain has been at 45 percent or 46 percent each time.

Stability reigns in Virginia as well where Obama is ahead 51 percent to 47 percent. As in Colorado, the results for each candidate have been virtually identical in four consecutive FOX News/Rasmussen Reports polls of Virginia voters.

The stability of these results is consistent with national polling over the past month. The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll has shown Obama with support from 50 percent to 52 percent of voters every single day for 32 consecutive days.

During that same time frame, McCain's support has been in the 44 percent to 46 percent range and the gap between the candidates has stayed between four and eight points.